A new study claims that the argument of the fad diet, Paleo, that has been part of human evolution may be old fashion, Stuff reports.
Vaclav Smil, author of 'Should We Eat Meat?: Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory' says that eating meat have been a significant key factor of human evolution that had a "synergistic relationship with other key attributes that have made us human" adding, "larger brains, smaller guts, bipedalism and language."
"Larger brains benefited from consuming high-quality proteins in meat-containing diets and, in turn, hunting and killing of large animals, butchering of carcasses and sharing of meat have inevitably contributed to the evolution of human intelligence in general and to the development of language and of capacities for planning, co-operation and socialising in particular."
But the new study challenges the belief, instead researchers point out that starchy carbohydrates "were essential for the evolution"
Researchers of the University of Sydney believes that "human brain uses as much as 25 per cent of the body's energy and up to 60 per cent of blood glucose."
But with a low carbohydrate diet, glucose and energy-hungry brain was unlikely to develop, researchers point out.
Researchers said, "The research is a blow to advocates of the Paleo diet, which shuns starch-rich vegetables and grains."
One of the co-author, Professor Jennie Brand-Miller said, "Global increases in obesity and diet-related metabolic diseases have led to enormous interest in ancestral or 'Palaeolithic' diets."
Researchers further added, "there has been a heavy focus on the role of animal protein in the development of the human brain over the last 2 million years. The importance of carbohydrate, particularly in the form of starch-rich plant foods, has been largely overlooked. Our research suggests that dietary carbohydrates, along with meat, were essential for the evolution of modern big-brained humans."
"The evidence suggests that Palaeolithic humans would not have evolved on today's 'Paleo' diet."
